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Big Cabal Media’s Seyi Taylor on the lessons learned from Tech Cabal and Zikoko and its ambitious plans for growth
Almost nowhere in Africa has seen such a blossoming of online content as Nigeria. Traditional publisher sites, blogs and news aggregators jostle for the attention of the country’s restless mobile phone millennials. Russell Southwood spoke to Big Cabal Media’s Seyi Taylor about what it’s like in the bear pit and what you have to do to win.
The latest video clip interviews from Smart Monkey TV can be found at the bottom of this e-letter
Alexa.com’s top ten Nigerian content sites (as opposed to services sites like Jumia and Konga) are by volume of daily views as follows: Nairaland.com (7.8 million daily views); Jiji.ng (5.85 m); Linda Ikeja’s Blog (4.79 m); NaijaLoaded (4.58 m); Naija.com (3.47 m) Punch.ng (3.45 m); Tooxlusive (no 1 music site in Nigeria – 3.24 m); Vanguard.com (2.69 m); Daily Post (2.49 m); and Blogspot.com.ng (2.01 m). Nigeria’s online media space is a boiling mixture of traditional upscale newspaper sites and tabloid celebrity gossip, music, Nollywood and fashion.
Seyi Taylor, Big Cabal Media is a young, upstart challenger who cut his teeth in digital advertising and marketing in Nigeria. The idea for Big Cabal Media came out of the massive changes that have taken place in the online space in Africa over the last 5 years:”It was a very simple idea. There were trends in the media landscape: firstly, there was a lot of Internet-based content consumption and secondly, a lot of the traditional media were not making the transition to digital effectively. Young Africans consumed local digital content like Nollywood and music shows this but it was not media content”.
In 2013, it launched a Nigerian tech site with a continental reach called Tech Cabal (Watch Tech Cabal's Bankole Oluwafemi talk about it at the back end of this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lakC5CNSZEo):”It took about a year to get 100,000 readers but it was a niche publication. It’s now a bit over 200,000 spread across different platforms. It answered the question we set ourselves: could we create content consistently? If we could, then we could figure out the monetization”.
But getting advertising for niche online is not easy:” Advertising does work but not as nicely as it might. We need to make changes to the platform”. It has also started to get income from events and consultancy work”.
“The tech media is an interesting proposition. By definition, it’s very niche, even an exclusive niche. There’s an unspoken cap on how much you can charge for ads. But there are other ways to capture value in the system. Fundamentally it’s about helping connect people. We want to focus on people making interconnections in the space”. He has plans but is understandably cagey about putting them in the public domain.
His second online media child is Zikoko that they thought of as the “Buzzfeed of Africa. The idea was to see what content people wanted and to give it to them:”We’re creating a platform to capture the best African-centred content and share it with the world”.
The headlines on its feed give some feel for what that content is: 8 Nigerian Songs To Listen To While You Prepare For The Weekend; The Zikoko Guide To Having The Perfect Friday Night That Will Cost You Nothing; 25 Things That Happen When You Like a Boy But You’re Trying To Respect Yourself; 6 Types Of People You See At Every Gym; and These 12 Nigerians Have Only Hilarious Things To Say About Serena Williams’ Pregnancy.
Big Cabal Media spent most of July rebuilding its CMS from scratch so that it could handle user generated content; put viral content at the top of the feed and be better at mobile purposed content. Their original Wordpress site was not designed to do these things.
So what content is really liked?:”There’s little one size fits all. The idea is to provide a personalized feed: Zikoko for you. Web publishers have worked with the mindset of newspapers. The editor will show you the content. But a small story for one person is a big story for another one. We’re creating a wider pool of content”.
“We needed to decouple the front end from the back and do posts in order of popularity. Also we needed to find the next posts you should be reading and add infinite scroll. We can take the parameters you present and present you with a selection you might like”.
The topics include: Entertainment, Nostalgia, Inspiration, Tips and Life Hacks, Humour, Food, places, celebrity culture, politics, women, beauty. The aim is to expand the areas of content.
The site currently attract plus or minus half a million unique views a month. Like many online publishers he bemoans the ineffectiveness of Facebook advertising. It seems to generate larger numbers of new users but they never seem to stick around:”I remember Jason Njoku (iROKO) saying to me ‘stop’ The traffic shrank a bit but stayed steady.” He is now looking at using word of mouth and reader loyalty more effectively. 91% of people accessing the site are using mobile phones.”
On the content side, he is creating a rating system for writers and will give greater rewards to those who produce widely liked content.
And who does he see as his competitors?:”Obviously OMG Voice from Ghana and the sites trying to capture millenials like YNaija. The biggest competition is lethargy. Do you feel my competition is compelling?”
The video content side of the platform is growing. Every month it gets between 0.5 million to 1 million views on Facebook and You Tube. It has attracted some direct sponsorship deals and it’s talking to brands about doing more.
”The advertising side (on Zikoko) is interesting. It’s not just about revenue, it just needs to be going up. We have some revenues from advertising and content creation (Why don’t you help us do X, Y or Z?)”.
So what is the potential for the site?:”Last year there were 16 million Facebook users in Nigeria. We’re only half way through the year and there are 19 million so far; of which 16 million are in Lagos. How many of those? A quarter? A third? This is day zero, day one. This is why it’s been critical to ensure we’ve built the structures that will scale”.
It has had investment from angel investors in the Lagos Angel Network and Taylor says:”We will be raising money in the future”. It has ambitions to grow beyond Nigeria as Nigeria content has the capacity to travel across the continent”.
My parting shot is: are you different from Linda Ikeja’s blog?:”Yes, in the way we check about people’s consumption patterns and those consumption patterns are more Facebook and Instagram than Washington Post”.
Film and TV+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MTN Ghana partners Broadband Home Ltd to launch ZIPTV
MTN Business, a total ICT solutions provider for businesses, has partnered Broadband Home Limited, to launch ZipTV service for its customers. The ZipTV service provides customers with varied entertainment programs. ZipTV is an IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) platform that delivers live digital content and video on demand to subscribers over an IP network.
Consumers who sign up for the service will enjoy TV content from selected local and foreign channels, alongside videos which will be decoded by a set-top box and delivered directly to their mobile phones, tablets or smart-connected televisions via a home internet network.
The service also provides a bouquet of packages that have been classified as Basic, Classic, Sensation or Club. Customers can choose hourly, daily, weekly or monthly rates. Commenting on the service, the General Manager for MTN Business, Mr. Samuel Addo, said, “the introduction of ZipTV is to respond to customer needs whilst driving MTN’s digital agenda. At MTN, we continue to deliver exciting offers to delight our customers.”
Mr. Ernest Obeng Yarfi, General Manager for Broad Band Home Ltd (BBH) said, “The service allows MTN subscribers to enjoy live exclusive programs, award-winning series and first run movies. Subscription is easy and the packages are as low as Ghs 1. This partnership endorses Ziptv® and MTN as strategic leaders in this evolving digital era.” Interested MTN Customers can access the service by downloading the ZipTV application for free via www.myziptv.com and on TV through an IP set-top-box.
Source: Ghana Web.com https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/business/MTN-Ghana-partners-Broadband-Home-Ltd-to-launch-ZIPTV-561415
Vubiquity signs content licensing deal with Iroko Partners
Vubiquity, a leading provider of premium content to video providers, announced today that it has signed a two-year content licensing deal with Iroko Partners, the world’s largest online distributor of African content.
Under the agreement, Iroko Partners agreed to provide 1,000 movie titles released within the last three years across a range of genres, including comedy, action, thriller, and drama. Vubiquity will offer this content to customers across Africa through streaming or subscription video on demand packages.
IROKO is the world’s largest online distributor of African content. Launched in December 2010 as a YouTube channel, NollywoodLove, the company launched a dedicated movie platform, irokotv.com, in December 2011 after securing $3 million in Series A funding from US-based hedge fund Tiger Global. The company has since raised an additional $40 million from Tiger Global, Kinnevik and RISE Capital. IROKO has offices in Lagos, London and New York.
Source: Financial Nigeria
Reflecting on the arrival of the VR movie in the region
Keen enthusiasts have little doubt that virtual reality (VR) cinema is the next big thing on the African continent. African filmmakers are already at it in the still nascent industry.
A VR headset shows you an image and, as you move your head to face any direction, it modifies that image to make it seem like you are really “there”. Hand movements can also be incorporated, such as already happening in gaming manipulating actions. And when you include headphones with their surround sound effect your immersion is complete. The outside world is shut out and you are removed from being a spectator into being actor in that virtual environment.
This is described as the full immersive (cave) experience. Below it is the semi-immersive (virtual theatre), followed by the more familiar non-immersive system one finds on a laptop and increasingly on smart phones, and can be either shown on the screen or projected onto a wall using a digital projector.
Non-immersive system includes the 360-degree views that have, of late, become par for the course in video documentaries and news items on social media and other sites.
During the Transform Africa Summit in Kigali in May this year, a VR technology prototype specific to the country was being exhibited by the Rwanda Development Board towards the development of a Smart Tourism Portal.
It is, however, in the complexity of the VR format that movie making is only beginning on the continent, while it is only getting deeper entrenched in the West as the technology becomes more adaptive.
In seeking to tell the African story in the evolving digital landscape, regional filmmakers have only just got into it with the aim to reinvent local cinema. Some Kenyan filmmakers have just become pioneers in the region with a couple of short VR movies that were recently showcased to tantalised audiences in Nairobi. However, South Africa leads in VR filmmaking on the continent, along few other countries that include Ghana and Senegal.
While VR holds great promise, and other than the mere handful of producers and the training one may require to adeptly accomplish it, a lament one keeps on hearing about is the cost of production.
Producing a two- to three-minute advert, for instance, can set you back around $15,000 in Nairobi, and up to $40,000 in South Africa. This means that the cost of producing an average 90-minute movie is beyond the reach of many producers locally and regionally.
This is not to say it is impossible. But, even then, there is the challenge of distribution of the content, as it would require VR headsets. The cheapest one can buy in Kigali, for instance, goes for around Rwf25,000 ($30) on internet stores.
The other thing about VR is the illusion of the personalised nature of the experience. While one can find content on Facebook or YouTube, it would still require a smartphone with an accelerometer and gyroscope to be used in a VR headset (some made of cardboard and given away free as promotional items) to appreciate the immersive experience.
Source: The New Times
Watch Ingrid Kopp, Electric South talk about funding five African Virtual Reality projects: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXimOZbLLyk
Discover Digital acquires majority stake in EFX Productions
On-demand solutions specialist, Discover Digital, has acquired a 74% stake in technical service and TV production company EFX Productions, expanding its full-service production, broadcasting and streaming capabilities.
Stephen Watson, Managing Director of Discover Digital, says the acquisition enhances Discover Digital’s own production capacity. “Now we are able to film and produce events, live stream across multiple channels, handle all the post-production highlights, near-live clippings and short-from clips, manage advertising and graphics, and archive and monetise the content. We are very excited that we can now offer total turnkey production solutions. This also expands the potential for us to develop more of our own original productions for our digital entertainment on-demand service, DEOD, and its multiple niche sports channels and news service,” says Watson.
EFX Productions, a local company, has been in the television industry for over 10 years, working with staging companies, transmission service providers and creative directors to film and produce coverage of sporting events and concerts, as well as TV series and documentaries. Its facilities include a high-definition outside broadcast (OB) van and flight case solutions for event recordings and outside broadcasts.
Under the partnership, EFX Productions CC will become EFX Productions Pty Ltd. headed by its founder, Brendan Marsay. Discover Digital will invest in additional equipment for the EFX business, which will now also have an expanded service offering, including enhanced VOD and streaming platforms.
Source: Press Release
How drones are influencing media and entertainment in Africa
Just as the IT revolution is reengineering how businesses operate, so, too, are drones drastically altering the events, media, video and filmmaking industries. They are here to stay and, like it or not, this emerging technology is unleashing new possibilities and opportunities for private and commercial use.
Due to the dynamic filmmaking capability of drones, directors have increasingly and specifically been writing scripts for shots that use drones. Why? Because drone shots have a unique capability of romance; they take the viewer on a journey that evokes emotions few other methods of filmmaking can. By being able to offer an anamorphic lens option, this emotion may further be amplified.
When it comes to the shoot, where you would normally need moving platforms and rigging to shoot aerial and high-angle shots, with the application of drones, this constraint may, in some cases, be removed, although shots within 50m of people, buildings and public roads would be precluded, due to local drone regulations. This doesn’t apply to operators who have obtained an exemption from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) and listed it in their operational specifications.
When it comes to benefits, drones also have the potential to improve production times — but only if the operator is highly skilled and has all the legal approvals to operate a drone in a particular place — which, in turn, may pass on cost savings. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you may end up negatively impacting the budget. The bottom line is further impacted by drones being able to move effectively and in a controlled manor, and that one drone may replace two or three outmoded solutions. Thanks to technological advances, you may now attach the same camera you would use for stills onto a heavier weight-bearing drone.
If you’ve never used drones in a production environment and feel compelled to introduce the new technology, be warned. The South African Aviation Legislation, Part 101, pertaining to the use of drones, is considered to be among the most-stringent in the world. Flying drones for commercial purposes in South Africa requires very serious considerations from legal and logistical standpoints, as well as performance limitations. So get your paperwork in place.
When sport meets technology
Outside the production environment, drones are making waves in the sporting and events industry. A great example of this is the hugely popular FPV drone racing, which is a big spectator sport that has a lot of money behind it. Spectators watch the first person view (FPV) feeds of drone pilots as they navigate tight sequences, going go head to head through exciting neon-lit race courses. The pilots compete for serious prize money when it comes to international competitions, such as the World Drone Prix.
Drones are now part of life and, who knows, maybe we will soon see drone highways? Farfetched thinking? Perhaps not.
Source: Mark Lives
In Brief
The well received South African short, Hair That Moves is now on Amazon prime after being acquired by Gravitas Ventures. The film about a young black girl from the township who attends a private school in the northern suburbs and has a fascination of turning her short stubborn afro into wavy locks was part of the Focus Features Africa First programme. The film was made in conjunction with Focus Features, a division of NBCUniversal and the National Film and Video Foundation and has since screened at various film festivals including the San Antonio International Film Festival, The FiSahara Film Festival in San Sebastian and recently the Zanzibar International Film Festival’s 20th Anniversary edition.
Ivorian animation company Afrika Toon has released an Android app – Afrika Toon 2.0. Download on the link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.afrikatoon
A new partnership was announced yesterday between Quiptel, global streaming technology leaders, and the LaserNet Group, experts in digital and broadcast technologies with headquarters in Cape Town, South Africa. The partnership will enable the two businesses to deliver OTT services to millions of users across Africa.
CBeebies smash-hit show for pre-schoolers, Go Jetters, has launched its very own YouTube page alongside brand new interactive features on its dedicated website. Now available across South Africa, the brand new YouTube channel allows pre- schoolers and their carers to subscribe and watch all of their favourite Go Jetters characters whenever and wherever they like, with new videos added weekly.
Music+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
SoundCloud shutdown: What happens to Africa’s streaming musicians?
SoundCloud is in trouble and this could affect up-and-coming African acts. The streaming platform has been a major resource for music lovers seeking an alternative to mainstream radio. For these set of music fans, SoundCloud brings alternative music—especially as artists without the budget for regular promotion regularly release music using the platform.
Alternative acts like Tomi Thomas, Odunsi the Engine and Tay Iwar, all based in Nigeria, have built a healthy following primarily through the platform. Others like Niniola and Nonso Amadi have used it as they build a bridge between online streaming and the mainstream. It is uncertain what might happen to the careers of some of these acts should the platform shut down services. In some ways, the possible closure of SoundCloud echoes that of the six-second video platform Vine. When Vine was shut down by Twitter in January, makers of Vine videos lost a platform that provided connection to their audience.
One of the first indications as to the trouble with the Germany-based SoundCloud was a statement issued on 6 July by co-founder Alex Ljun stating that a massive lay-off had taken place. “[W]e need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,” a part of his statement read. “And in order to do this, it requires cost cutting, continued growth of our existing advertising and subscription revenue streams, and a relentless focus on our unique competitive advantage—artists and creators.”
The cuts, which amounted to 173 SoundCloud staffers losing their jobs, was then said to present an incomplete picture of the trouble at the company as reported by the Techcrunch website.
“[S]ources at SoundCloud [say] that founders Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss confessed the layoffs only saved the company enough money to have runway “until Q4”—which begins in just 80 days,” states a Techcrunch report published on 7 July.
SoundCloud has responded to the claims by Techcrunch saying that the company “is fully funded into the fourth quarter. We continue to be confident the changes made last week put us on our path to profitability and ensure SoundCloud’s long-term viability.”
SoundCloud’s confidence in its own ability to head towards profitability doesn’t seem to be shared by its users. While American up and coming act Khalid expressed a somewhat farewell gratitude—“thank you so much @SoundCloud for giving me an outlet to become creative, who knows where I'd be without you”—others like Lady Donli, a popular act in the Nigerian SoundCloud circle, seem to see the end.
“Thank you for existing @SoundCloud,” she tweeted on 12 July, apparently unaware of the company's troubles. “SoundCloud wants to give me hypertension,” she wrote a day later, adding that “Really if SoundCloud shuts down I’m done releasing music.”
There might be a chance that Lady Donli and artists in a similar position need not worry as one global popstar has volunteered assistance. “I’m working on the SoundCloud thing,” Chance the Rapper tweeted. The American is yet to say anything more, but perhaps Soundcloud users can hope.
Source: Music in Africa
British Nigerian singer-songwriter Lánre releases new music video ‘Dreams’
Lánre is a British Nigerian singer-songwriter whose music can be described as acoustic Soul, Folk with captivating storytelling influenced by her Yoruba heritage. Born in Stoke-On-Trent in England, Lánre has spent most of her youth in Nigeria where she started singing and performing live at the age of 8. Soon enough, she started playing guitar and found freedom in her own voice.
In 2002, Lánre embarked herself on a worldwide tour as a member of award-winning UK collective GK REAL. This experience ignited in her the desire to pursue a solo career. Her debut album Pen Voyage Chapter One: Singing For Change was released in 2011 followed by her critically acclaimed EP Home in 2014 (praised by MOBO, MTV UK among others).
Lánre was commissioned to write two songs for COAT, a sold out stage play at the Roundhouse by Yomi Sode. She was also asked to write a song for the 80th Anniversary celebration of Cable Street. She has toured Canada, France, NYC and Sweden and brought her unique sound to the Royal Albert Hall, Greenbelt Festival, Edinburgh Fringe, Bath Music Festival, Folkstock Festival, Musicport Festival and the Brighton Fringe among others.
Now, two years after Home, Lánre has released Human. She is premiering the official music video for ‘Dreams,’ the brand new single from the EP, today, exclusively with HuffPo. The video was directed by Alexandra MacEwan and features contemporary artist Rebecca Sangster.
She’s currently working on a new album that will be released in 2018.
Source: Huffington Post
Kenyan rapper Nyashinski collaborates with South African duo Mafikizolo
Kenya’s come back King, Nyashinski, renown for the recent double hits: “Aminia” and “Malaika” returns to Coke Studio Africa, this year paired alongside one of Africa’s most legendary African music acts – Mafikizolo from South Africa – who will be making their debut on the show.
Last year on Coke Studio Africa, Nyashinski was paired alongside Nigerian super star Yemi Alade. As he makes a return, he expressed his excitement for the new season saying, “I am happy to be back on the show and can’t wait to work with Mafikizolo – a group I have always held in high regard as my icons.”
During a Coke Studio Africa ZA Instagram Live interview with the “Khona” hit makers, Theo of Mafikizolo talked about their experience at Coke Studio Africa while in Nairobi: “We’ve got different studios in a creative environment. We love for its warmth and nice feel. So far the vibe is good!” Mafikizolo also announced that they will be releasing a special album with 20 tracks this year to celebrate their 20th anniversary in the music industry.
Khaligraph, Avril, The Band BeCa and Sauti Sol are among top Kenyan music acts set to feature on Coke Studio Africa – 2017, this year. The show starts to air across different regions from September and will broadcast across over 30 African countries.
Source:
In Brief
Ahmed Malek’s song “Omar Gatlato” was selected for your listening pleasure by our friend, Jannis Stürz, the man behind MiCT’s newly created album “Sawtuha” featuring nine musicians from Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, and a treasure-hunter of rare Arabic grooves from the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Find more on his label, Jakarta Records, or under Habibi Funk here: https://soundcloud.com/habibifunk
The Ethiopian government has charged seven Oromo artists with terrorism for producing and uploading politically charged songs on YouTube. The videos were made in collaboration with a diaspora political organization based in Australia. The group, comprising producer Elias Kiflu, singers Seenaa, Gemechis Atbara and Oliyad Bekele and dancers Ifa Gemechu, Tamiru Keneni and Mobile Misganu, have been detained since December 2016 in Maekelawi Prison, which is notorious for torture practices. According to the state owed media house Fana Broadcasting Corporation (FBC), Seenaa and her colleagues are also being charged for possessing inciting audiovisual materials that include clips of students and protesters who demonstrated between 2014 and 2016.
Dancehall artiste Livingstone Etse Satekla known in music circles as StoneBwoy has been using music to preach cocoa farming to the youth in the country especially in the cocoa growing areas. The musician has been touring parts of the Volta region as an ambassador of MASO programme that aims at empowering the youth of the country to participate in cocoa growing and rest of the cocoa value chain including allied service delivery in the cocoa sector of the country’s agriculture. The programme focuses on creating employment opportunities for youth aged between age 18 and 25 in the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Western, Central and the Volta regions of Ghana.
Social Media++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WhatsApp admins in Kenya put on notice over hate speech
National Cohesion and Integration Commission chairperson Francis Ole Kaparo has warned that the government will crack down on social media account administrators who post messages that are likely to cause unnecessary anxiety in the build up to the election period.
Speaking during a Mkenya Daima peaceful poll campaign forum organized by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance(KEPSA), Kaparo said that WhatsApp administrators are responsible for hate messages posted on their group.
“Just last week we had a case where someone posted a message profiling a certain community. We are working with the police and we will crackdown and net such individuals. We have identified 21 WhatsApp accounts that have been encouraging incitement and hate speech across the country. We are dealing with them and the only way to counter this vice is to track down the administrators of these accounts,” Kaparo said.
The former National Assembly Speaker fired a warning to administrators, saying that the government will not hesitate to shut down the accounts in question if need be.
“Fellow Kenyans, I want to appeal to you to respect constitutional institutions, stop cannibalizing them. Give the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) room to deliver a credible election. Don’t judge the commission before the election date and this is a problem we have been having for an year,” the NCIC boss pleaded.
Kaparo also called on the media to aid the commission’s cause by ensuring proper gatekeeping of their content.
His sentiments were echoed by Communications Authority Director General who said that the authority is working with the relevant stake holders to ensure that the country holds a peaceful election.
“We are keeping tabs on all communication platforms right from telecommunications to media platforms to ensure that people do not abuse their right to access of information. We will make sure that the internet is up and running but we will crack down on hate mongers,” Wangusi said.
Source: Citizen Digital
BBM Messenger Partners with Ariiyatickets to Offer Event Tickets Service to Users in Nigeria
Creative Media Works, operating as BBM, has launched Event Tickets inside Discover with partner, Ariiyatickets. The service allows Nigerians to browse for local concerts and events, and purchase tickets in advance – all without leaving the messaging app.
Ariiyatickets, similar to other Nigerian BBM Discover partners, uses the Interswitch mobile checkout feature developed for BBM Messenger. First time users are only required to set up their account once with their debit card and they can immediately transact on other services on Discover such as Quickteller Airtime Top-Up, Money Transfer and Paycode (used for cardless ATM withdrawal), and Movie Tickets.
Digital tickets are increasing in popularity, especially among millennials, who rely on their phones more than any other age group. According to the World Factbook, Nigeria has no shortage of them, with a majority of the population under 25 years old. Going digital means users can skip the line, purchase tickets in advance, and transact in a streamlined, mobile-friendly experience with secured payment within BBM Messenger.
BBM Messenger is one of the largest mobile messaging applications in the world. Since it was created in August 2005, BBM has evolved from a pure messaging application for communication (text and video) to a social ecosystem unifying chat, social, commerce, content and services including bill payment, top-up, vouchers/coupons, news, games, comics, video, shopping, travel, career, sports and polls.
Elsie Oluku CRO of Ariiyatickets.com said, “We are excited to be a part of this awesome innovation. The partnership with BBM Messenger provides us with a simple, convenient way to publicise events and sell tickets to a broad socially connected audience.”
Source: Press Release
In Brief
Bank fraudsters in Uganda were caught after putting a video of themselves playing with the dollars they had obtained. Bank workers identified the straps around the money as being the same as for the stolen money.
Media++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Innovator Q&A: The Eye’s radio studio in a suitcase
What does it take to launch a new radio station? Just a small suitcase according to the team at The Eye
The Eye is an innovative digital radio station, based in Cape Town, South Africa, and is created by two radio veterans, Jon Savage and Catherine Grenfell. It breaks the mould of traditional radio, and showcases a different way of doing digital radio. Despite only streaming their first show in October 2016, The Eye is growing in leaps and bounds.
Most recently Grenfell hosted a live broadcast of her radio show “Your Best Live Concert of All Time”, using their latest invention, the mobile radio box, from the comfort of her patio and living room in Johannesburg. Within only three weeks of using the mobile radio box, Savage says requests from all over the world are streaming in for the lightweight radio box. Their radio-in-a-box solution was created to solve one of The Eye’s challenges, but now has grown into a separate business.
What makes The Eye unique from other digital radio stations?
JS: Firstly The Eye does not operate in the same way as other online radio stations operate. What I mean by that is, instead of just being radio moving online, we have designed The Eye to work with the way people engage with content on social media.
CG: Ours is all based on storytelling. That’s always been a very important thing for me is actually going back to radio and in terms of storytelling. So our station is very much based around whoever is presenting a show has to tell it through a story, whether its songs that influenced your life, bands that you’ve been on the road with. Anything like that, it has to be told through a story.
I’ve always believed that radio is such a personal medium. So when you are telling true stories and you’re telling personal experiences, it touches people in a very different way than commercial radio does. And that’s what really makes The Eye radio completely different to anything at the moment in the digital space and even on the actual commercial radio station.
How are you using social media to make your content different?
JS: What works on social media is not an “always on” environment. …Radio works in an “always on” environment. You get into your car, you turn it on. You listen at night, you listen in the morning, on the way to work. It’s always on. We have an “always on” component, but The Eye works differently … we believe that people can choose the content they engage with. Our job is to make amazing content every week, which doesn’t mean we have to make content 24-hours a day. It means that when we do a show, people on social will engage with that show.
What are some of the interesting topics that garnered a lot of feedback from audiences?
JS: I can tell you that the Hugh Masekela show today was highly memorable, just because of the nature of that story. We had Jack Parow read on air the first rap he ever wrote from when he was thirteen years old out of a school text book, which was interesting. We’ve had some of the biggest hip-pop artists in the country. One of my highlights was Reason and SugarSmaX from Skwatta Kamp having a very deep discussion about the impact of calling women ‘bitches’ in their raps songs over the years. We’ve had Slikour and Sipho Pityana fighting over the future of our country.
And we’ve had Zolani [Mahola] from Freshlyground interviewing lots of celebrities including Francois van Coke and Thandiswa Mazwai about what Africa is going to look like in a 100 years’ time. That segment is called Future Afro. There’s just an absolute plethora of great content. I get very excited whenever we do a show.
CG: Slikour interviewed Lindiwe Hani, which we all know who Chris Hani is and she just brought out a book about him. But there are not a lot of people who knew him personally. We all know of the struggle hero, but we don’t actually know him personally. So when Lindiwe was coming on the show, they were going to chat about the book but she had to bring songs that her dad listened to. The show was called, Songs that my dad listened to. And it was such a beautiful glimpse into this struggle hero’s life that most of us never knew. I would have never thought that he perhaps was listening to classical music as well as Whitney Houston and traditional African songs. His variety of music was incredible
What is the format of the The Eye?
JS: Each show gets broadcast live, and then it gets three more [repeat] broadcasts during the week. In those three broadcasts, we target different audiences on social media so that we are simultaneously split-testing how well the show performs in different demographics. And after the three shows, it goes onto an “On-demand” menu, so you can listen to any of our shows at any time.
Who is your target audience?
JS: What is interesting about The Eye is that we do not have one broad audience; we have multiple segmented audiences who are highly engaged, which I think is a way more powerful audience base.
On June 22, Catherine Grenfell had a live broadcast of her show using the mobile radio box. How did that idea come about?
JS: The mobile desk was invented out of a frustration of not having a Johannesburg studio yet. But also as we were talking to some of our DJ’s, they were coming up with very cool ideas of what we could do. For example, one of our DJ’s is BCUC, the group. And they actually have their own shebeen in Soweto, and they suggested doing their show from the shebeen. So that gave me the idea of not only making a mobile office, so that we could do shows all over the country, but we could actually do special broadcasts from anywhere. I also knew that we are a very small team with limited resources, so I wanted to make sure that Catherine could carry, install and open up that suitcase from anywhere in the country.
It had to be small and lightweight. And it had to be user- friendly so that she could do it, because we are not a very big team. We don’t have all these guys working for us. So it was really operated as a one- man show. That one person could arrive in a location and open it up, set it up and broadcast live on air from that location. But I also wanted it to look beautiful, which is why it has a lot of shiny lights and a light box built in. It’s not purely functional. I wanted to make sure that wherever The Eye was, we made an impact.
One of the things I believe is a challenge in digital radio is the mindset that you are not a “real” radio station. So to overcome that, The Eye built a very beautiful radio station in Cape Town that overlooks Loop Street in a big glass window. And so when we built a mobile radio station, we wanted it to be also beautiful. We didn’t want it to just be like a guy’s laptop in his bedroom. That’s a lot of where that box idea came from, like how to make it really look cool.
How was it broadcasting the first show using the mobile radio box?
CG: It was really exciting. I actually felt like I was doing radio for the first time. I was so nervous and I was so stressed. But when you’re working on a digital thing like that and you’re on your own like I was doing it at home, there are so many things that can go wrong. But it was such a great experience. It was so awesome to be in the comfort of my own home doing a radio show … My show is very interactive in terms as I put up a theme and then I’ll ask people on social media what’s the song that changed their lives or what is the best concert they ever went to. And I will take those stories and relay them on air. It was just nice to be in the comfort of my own home and allow my children to give their best concert experience.
So the digital box is amazing. I had one hiccup with it where I was broadcasting from Micasa’s album launch and there was this echoing sound and I just couldn’t fix it. We eventually figured out it was some button in the system that sounded like it was being clicked. That’s extremely stressful when it comes to doing this. But I suppose that can happen with you in a studio or if you’re at work. Technical things can go wrong if you’re working with equipment, something can always go wrong. I did have a hiccup, but my show was great and now I’ve been able to slowly start troubleshooting if there are any problems to make sure that it works.
Which components of the radio mobile box did you buy from Gumtree?
JS: The computers, the mics and the mic stand. The main contents of the box are all second-hand equipment, but everything in our studio is also second-hand. We have a vintage record player. We have vintage speakers. So everything is kind of old school vintage, and — in that way — cheaper!
What was the idea behind helping others start their own radio stations?
JS: A big fundamental part of The Eye is to drive culture forward and we see this as a great opportunity to build lots of these and put them into communities all around the country so that we can actually create opportunities — not only for new DJ’s for The Eye, but to have community radio stations that are accessible all over the place.One of Catherine’s passions is teaching radio and we definitely think that radio is a valuable skill that we’d like to teach all around the country where people need it most. And this box is a great asset to go into the community and teach kids how to do radio and leave a box there for them to create their own radio stations.
CG: I started teaching at Boston Media House about four years ago and I was teaching radio and I’d just realised I never thought I’d be a teacher. And I absolutely found this amazing passion for teaching people. The project that we’re going to work on next is just on educating people on how to tell their own stories. So whether it’s recording it on your phone and sending that story through to putting it on your Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or just sending it via WhatsApp to your friends and families, is to really just keep that storytelling. As I said, everyone has a story and in telling our stories, we might come from completely different backgrounds, but we will find things that we can relate to.
I’ve always been involved in the music industry and that is a really huge passion for me, is to teach young artists how to do interviews. An artist can break with a song, but then don’t have an idea on how to answer questions and if they do a radio interview, they come across like they’re uninterested or unknowledgeable about what they’re talking about. So I really want to help people to learn about how to do interviews, how to answer questions, how to grow your social media.
How are you going to make digital radio financially viable and into a well-run business?
JS: That’s what we are doing at The Eye. We have a strong business team behind us. We have a very strategic focus on how we operate as a business. We are looking all the time at different models. We see where digital radio is struggling, and we are constantly evolving to make up new ways to solve those problems. It’s also why we don’t operate on the 24-hour always on model, because it makes no financial sense in the current climate. I’ve got a hugely smart team behind me.
On the the public facing side, we are just making the best radio ever. Behind the scenes, we are very aggressively looking at the future and trying to forge a model for sustainability.
What are the challenges facing digital radio in South Africa and the rest of the continent?
JS: Obviously access is a big one. And a large part of our business is looking at tackling that. There’s no short term solution for that. From the top down, there is a fear from advertisers of spending money on digital radio, because of the way that digital radio is currently presented. And so our model is very different to how traditional digital radio is currently being sold. We have a constant uphill battle with educating brands and agencies about a different way of looking at digital radio, but are able to provide massive value to them. And that’s really one of our biggest challenges. We spend so much time showing people the numbers and showing people a different way of thinking, showing people how an engaged listener is a 100 times more powerful than what is considered “reach”.
Five very engaged and involved listeners is more powerful than 500 “reached” listeners. They may or may not be listening. But engaged listeners are the key.
CG: The biggest problem for South Africans is obviously data. And I’m really hoping that mobile companies come to the party and just bring down the data costs, just in general and not just for people listening to digital radio. The data costs in South Africa are just so ridiculous. As that comes down, more people will have access and be able to listen and go online and be able to hear all these stories that are on digital radio, because there are a lot of podcasts, different documentaries etc. And it’s so important for people to be able to listen to these things and not only as the radio stations plays them but perhaps later on when they’re able to go on and listen to a show in their own time.
But I think data is the biggest problem for digital radio. And also people are scared. You can’t say, if you listen to an hour show, this is perhaps how much data you’re going to use. It totally depends on external circumstances. And so that fear of the unknown that if I go on and listen to something, will it drain my data? And also the fact that a lot of people drive in their cars or perhaps they’re listening on their cellphones. Overseas, a lot of the cars have digital, already in their car radio, satellite etc and we don’t have that yet. So I think all of those factors as well as just general advertisers know that things are moving in the digital space, they’re very much based on numbers and they want to know how many people are listening etc, and they’re quite scared to take the plunge to advertise on digital.
Source: Jamlab
Kenya election: Fake CNN and BBC news reports circulate
A fake news report about Kenya's election that is made to look as if it is from broadcaster CNN has been circulating on social media. It comes after a fake video imitating the BBC's Focus on Africa programme was also distributed on Friday.
Both videos had bogus surveys showing President Uhuru Kenyatta leading the polls ahead of August's election. A recent survey suggested that 90% of Kenyans had seen or heard false news in the run-up to the poll.
CNN has taken to Twitter to confirm that the video report is fake, while the BBC has urged people to verify any stories claiming to be from the broadcaster by visiting the BBC website.
The fake CNN report cuts from a CNN Philippines broadcast to a fake video that uses CNN logo. However, the font used in the headlines is visibly different from the one used by the broadcaster.
A Portland/GeoPoll survey found that many Kenyans feel some news items about the elections have been deliberately misleading. It also found that while traditional media remained the most trusted source of information, large numbers of people got their news from Facebook and WhatsApp.
Source: BBC News
In Brief
Audience data reveals the top three ranked websites in South Africa for the first half of 2017 are News24 in first place, with 6.6 million unique browsers, followed by Gumtree with 5 million unique browsers and TimesLIVE in third place with 3.6 million unique browsers.
Digital Advertising+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dentsu Aegis Network signs with Rwanda’s Impact Africa Limited
Dentsu Aegis Network, a global media and digital marketing communications network, has extended its footprint in Africa with the signing of Impact Africa Limited (iAfrica), a marketing and public relations agency, as its affiliate full-service agency in Rwanda.
Dentsu Aegis Network sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is part of a global media group that specialises in media, digital, and creative communications. It spans over Southern Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Tanzania with owned businesses and affiliates, as well as affiliate partnerships, in another 32 markets across SSA.
iAfrica offers a range of services that include public relations, media planning, advertising, media research, out of home and events, creative strategy, and sales promotion. Its business strategy is invested in research intelligence and takes an in-depth approach to understanding its audiences.
The team at iAfrica consists of 11 people who service blue chip clients including BBC, Coca-Cola, KLM, Canon, Colgate, East African Breweries, and African Trade Insurance Agency – to name a few.
iAfrica are based in Kimihurura in Kigali City, Rwanda and was incorporated in 2005. iAfrica has offices in Rwanda and Burundi with affiliates in Tanzania, Kenya, Congo DRC, Congo Brazzaville, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Uganda. They execute a wide range of services in the East African region through the network, which will complement Dentsu Aegis Network’s existing footprint in the region.
For more information, visit www.dentsuaegisnetwork.co.za.
Source: Media Update Newsletter
Jetweb answers five FAQs about influencer marketing
As a social media and digital marketing professional at Jetweb, Bianca Quinn-Diavastos offers answers to five frequently asked questions (FAQ’s) on the influencer marketing phenomenon. She says it is undeniably the industry buzz word of the time and is multifaceted, complex, and ever-evolving.
Jetweb answers five FAQs about influencer marketing
Q: Is influencer marketing evergreen, or a passing craze?
A: Definitely not passing – locally, as well as abroad. In South Africa, I question whether influencer marketing has reached its full potential. In my opinion, it has not quite found its feet here the way it has in some other countries. There are a few local industries that rely on influencer marketing quite heavily, whereas others don’t make use of it at all.
For example, I have found that the fitness industry in South Africa has found their groove and know how to utilise a powerful visual platform like Instagram to their advantage.
In other industries, like beauty, travel, and restaurants, we do have bloggers who act as influencers. They participate in talking about products or experiences, but they do not necessarily endorse them.
Q. What are the key ingredients of a successful influencer marketing campaign?
A: The right person; The right product; and The right time. These elements are essential for a successful campaign.
Furthermore, it is important to find an influencer who genuinely loves your product or service, as supposed to being signed on for an endorsement without an understanding of your brand. You are getting it right when the brand and the influencer is an authentic match and it does not feel to the consumer like a financial transaction.
Q: What led to the trend to use influencers to market your brand?
A: The mere fact that the John Lewis' pastel-colored Fair Isle 'Baby Luxury Sheep' knit cardigan Princess Charlotte wore in her second birthday photo shoot in May sold out soon after the photographs became public knowledge, is a clear, practical demonstration of the fact that we live in an age of influence and aspiration.
In current marketing times, influencer marketing can assist your brand in reaching customers you might not reach through traditional advertising, all through the power of aspiration and the need to belong.
Q: Are there any brands that you’ve seen recently that got it right?
A: In the US, I think a brand who really gets it right with style, is Draper James. They use Reese Witherspoon with great success in their campaigns. She is a great fit for the brand and, in my opinion, seeing her in one of their outfits makes you want to click and buy their products.
For more information, visit www.jetweb.co.za.
Source: Media Update Newsletter
Watch Digital strategist Jesse Oguntemehin on influencer marketing in Nigeria: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHupfDTRK-4
In Brief
Johannesburg-based Clockwork Media has been selected as global digital agency on Microsoft’s Windows and Devices team, following an international pitch held in London. Ciaran Burnand, former head of project management and innovations lead at Wunderman Africa (formerly Aqua), has been brought on to lead the team, which has already commenced work. The agency will run daily and campaign-based operations for all non-US markets for Xbox.com, Windows.com and Surface.com. The mandate will include technical, creative, UX and data analyses on the platforms, and will require regular participation with Microsoft’s global brand and product teams based in Redmond, Washington. Markets serviced will include China, Mexico, UK, Australia, Germany, France and South Africa, among others.
Hitch Digital has come on board as a sponsor for the ninth annual MOST Awards and will be sponsoring the Media Owner Independent Sales Consultant Award.
Hellocomputer has appointed Marthinus van Loggerenberg as a senior digital strategist in its Cape Town agency. Here his main responsibility will be to combine the best audience insights, data, research, technology and distribution capabilities to connect Hellocomputer’s client brands to their audiences. Or, as he says, ‘solve problems that create narratives for brand stories across multiple platforms’.
Incorta, the real-time analytics platform that makes the traditional data warehouse obsolete, has announced that it hired international sales executive Wael Fakharany as vice president and general manager of its operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
Other Digital Content and Services+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Pokemon Go style game Safari Central crowdfunding US$80,000 on Kickstarter – Halfway there so far
Pokemon Go style game Internet of Elephants has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund Safari Central, the first ever game based on real wildlife data. Players track the movements of a real rhino, elephant, pangolin, lemur or grizzly in their own city and support the animal’s conservation through in-game purchases. Backers become part of a radical new movement to make conservation ferociously fun.
Jake Mannion, Safari Central told me:” It's been live now for 10 days, and we're currently at 54% of our $80,000 target, with 20 days to go. It looks optimistic when you see those figures, but we're learning that things are far from certain in the world of crowdfunding!”
We’ve lost 50% of our wildlife in the past 40 years and conventional fundraising approaches are not reaching enough people or raising enough funds to turn the tide. Internet of Elephants aims to connect millions of people currently not engaged in conservation with wildlife projects across the world.
Its first game, Safari Central, maps out the movement data of real wild animals in your own city, enabling you to track an animal and spot them on your mobile phone through augmented reality. In-app purchases enable you to learn more about the animal while your contribution goes towards their preservation. You will have a total blast exploring your city, discover fantastic animals and support conservation.
Safari Central is the world’s first game to be based entirely on real tracking data, which is gathered by Internet of Elephant’s conservation partners such as WWF Brazil, Chicago Zoological Society, Conservation International, Space for Giants, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Tswalu Foundation. Safari Central connects our partners to a new audience and revenue stream at no expense to their operations.
The campaign is live here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/safaricentral/safari-central-rewild-your-world?ref=7io4x1
Source: Innovation in Africa
In Brief
On July 29th and 30th, PC and console gaming teams from Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya will compete for $1500 in cash prizes at Africa’s first international multiplayer video game tournament to be held at the 5th annual Nairobi Comic Convention (Naiccon). The event, sponsored by Liquid Telecom and Asus, will also serve as a powerful demonstration of East Africa’s rapidly developing regional
Internet ecosystem as the online gaming servers used for the tournament will be hosted in Uganda.
The organisers of West African gamers event WAGE have written to say” WAGE 17 is now set to take place on the 26th 27th 28th and 29th of September 2017. We have listened to our stakeholders and decided to make this move as we aim to organize a fun, captivating gaming experience for gamers in the region”.
If you’d like to subscribe to Digital Content Africa send an email to info@balancingact-africa.com with Digital Content Africa in the header. If you think that there are African creators and innovators we should be interviewing, send me a message on twitter @smartmonkeytv
Yours sincerely
Russell Southwood
Smart Monkey TV
PS Watch Nigel Mugamu on how 263Chat challenges mainstream media's way of telling the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qerwJ8MXM1M
PPS To subscribe to our web TV channel Smart Monkey TV, click on the link below and press the red Subscribe button below the monkey with the camera on the logo: http://www.youtube.com/user/SmartMonkeyTV/videos
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